Selective acetylene hydrogenation

Description Crude C4 streams are converted into propylene and an isobutylene-rich stream in three IFP process steps (1) butadiene and C4 acetylenes selective hydrogenation and butenes hydroisomerization, (2) isobutylene removal via distillation or MTBE production and (3) metathesis (Meta-4). 

Activated carbon 600-1200 vinylation with acetylene, selective hydrogenation with noble metal catalysts (fine chemicals)... 

LKl cfiemLCoC p oce ycng, syntheses of butynediol from aqueous formaldehyde and acetylene, selective hydrogenation of acetylene to remove it in the presence of butadiene in C4 hydrocarbon streams (31), and hydrogenation of glucose to sorbitol (6). 

Oxychlorination reactor feed purity can also contribute to by-product formation, although the problem usually is only with low levels of acetylene which are normally present in HCl from the EDC cracking process. Since any acetylene fed to the oxychlorination reactor will be converted to highly chlorinated C2 by-products, selective hydrogenation of this acetylene to ethylene and ethane is widely used as a preventive measure (78,98—102). 

By-products from EDC pyrolysis typically include acetjiene, ethylene, methyl chloride, ethyl chloride, 1,3-butadiene, vinylacetylene, benzene, chloroprene, vinyUdene chloride, 1,1-dichloroethane, chloroform, carbon tetrachloride, 1,1,1-trichloroethane [71-55-6] and other chlorinated hydrocarbons (78). Most of these impurities remain with the unconverted EDC, and are subsequendy removed in EDC purification as light and heavy ends. The lightest compounds, ethylene and acetylene, are taken off with the HCl and end up in the oxychlorination reactor feed. The acetylene can be selectively hydrogenated to ethylene. The compounds that have boiling points near that of vinyl chloride, ie, methyl chloride and 1,3-butadiene, will codistiU with the vinyl chloride product. Chlorine or carbon tetrachloride addition to the pyrolysis reactor feed has been used to suppress methyl chloride formation, whereas 1,3-butadiene, which interferes with PVC polymerization, can be removed by treatment with chlorine or HCl, or by selective hydrogenation. 

The depropanizer overhead, Cj and lighter feed is compressed to about 300 psi and then passed over a fixed bed of acetylene removal catalyst, generally palladium on alumina. Because of the very large amount of hydrogen contained in this stream, the operating conditions are critical to selectively hydrogenate the acetylene without degrading the valuable ethylene to ethane. 

Significant quantities of Cj and C, acetylenes are produced in cracking. They can be converted to olefins and paraffins. For the production of high purity ethylene and propylene, the contained Cj and C3 acetylenes and dienes are catalytically hydrogenated leaving only parts per million of acetylenes in the products. Careful operation is required to selectively hydrogenate the small concentrations of acetylenes only, and not downgrade too much of the wanted olefin products to saturates. 

With other acetylenes steric factors may be operative which render the selective reduction somewhat difficult. In the aldosterone intermediates (53) and (54), for instance, selective hydrogenation is obtained only with the 14 -acetylenic ether " (hydroxyl group effect). 

Tlie cooled gaseous products are dried using an adsorbent such as molecular sieves and compressed to about 500 psig by a multistage compressor. The compressed gas is dien sent to an acetylene converter where acetylene is selectively hydrogenated to ediane. The gaseous mixture dien flows to die purification section of the plant where each component of die gas is recovered by means of cryogenic disdlladon. 

Many workers (5,6,7,87) have compared various metals for the selective hydrogenation of lower acetylenes to olefins, and it was always found that palladium was by far the most selective. This conclusion concurs with the usual synthetic experience, but under special circumstances other metals, such as platinum, may prove more useful (35,63). The catalyst support may also have an influence (21,65). Carbon, calcium carbonate, and barium sulfate are frequently used supports. Examples of some differences are noted later,... 

In the petrochemical field, hydrogen is used to hydrogenate benzene to cyclohexane and benzoic acid to cyclohexane carboxylic acid. These compounds are precursors for nylon production (Chapter 10). It is also used to selectively hydrogenate acetylene from C4 olefin mixture. 

Cold hydrogenation may also be used for the selective hydrogenation of butadiene and for the selective hydrogenation of methyl acetylene and pro-padiene in propylene feedstocks (K22). 

S. Tracey, A. Palermo, J.P.H. Vazquez, and R.M. Lambert, In Situ Electrochemical Promotion by Sodium of the Selective Hydrogenation of Acetylene over Platinum, J. Catal. 179, 231-240 (1998). 

Acetex A vapor-phase process for selectively hydrogenating acetylene in the presence of ethylene. Developed by IFP in France in 1993. 

KLP [Dow K Catalyst liquid phase] A selective hydrogenation process for removing acetylenes from cmde C4 hydrocarbons from ethylene cracking, with no loss of butadiene. The catalyst is based on either copper metal or alumina. Developed by Dow Chemical Company and first commercialized at its plant in Temeuzen, The Netherlands. The KLP licensing business was sold to UOP in 1991. 

Partial hydrogenation of acetylenic compounds bearing a functional group such as a double bond has also been studied in relation to the preparation of important vitamins and fragrances. For example, selective hydrogenation of the triple bond of acetylenic alcohols and the double bond of olefin alcohols (linalol, isophytol) was performed with Pd colloids, as well as with bimetallic nanoparticles Pd/Au, Pd/Pt or Pd/Zn stabilized by a block copolymer (polystyrene-poly-4-vinylpyridine) (Scheme 9.8). The best activity (TOF 49.2 s 1) and selectivity (>99.5%) were obtained in toluene with Pd/Pt bimetallic catalyst due to the influence of the modifying metal [87, 88]. 

A similar system based on rhodium has been studied (123) and was found to be less active than the equivalent iridium catalysts. Selective hydrogenation of acetylenes to olefins and dienes to monoolefins can be performed using the rhodium system, and the authors note that although propan-2-ol is an effective source of hydrogen (via oxidation to acetone), mild pressures of hydrogen gas can also be employed. 

Similarly, 1,2-cyclononadiene in methanol with 10% palladium on carbon catalyst gave cis-cyclononene122. The cis isomer is not necessarily the primary product of allene hydrogenation, since the initially formed trans isomer is rapidly isomerized under the reaction conditions. Bond and Sheridan showed that allene resembles acetylene in its ease of hydrogenation123. They suggested that it is selectively adsorbed and held more strongly by the catalyst than 1-propene. Allene was selectively hydrogenated with Pd, Pt and Ni in the presence of 1-propene without its further reduction. 

Guryanova, S. G., V. M. Gryaznov and S. Kanizius. 1973. Selective hydrogenation of acetylene on a palladium-silver membrane catalyst. Analiz Soverm. Zadach u Tech. Naukakh 172. 

For a decade or so [CoH(CN)5] was another acclaimed catalyst for the selective hydrogenation of dienes to monoenes [2] and due to the exclusive solubility of this cobalt complex in water the studies were made either in biphasic systems or in homogeneous aqueous solutions using water soluble substrates, such as salts of sorbic add (2,4-hexadienoic acid). In the late nineteen-sixties olefin-metal and alkyl-metal complexes were observed in hydrogenation and hydration reactions of olefins and acetylenes with simple Rii(III)- and Ru(II)-chloride salts in aqueous hydrochloric acid [3,4]. No significance, however, was attributed to the water-solubility of these catalysts, and a new impetus had to come to trigger research specifically into water soluble organometallic catalysts. 

As can be seen in Table III the Synthol process produces a large amount of C to C- hydrocarbons which are predominantly olefins. At Sasol tne C stream from the cryogenic separation unit is fed to a standard ethylene plant. The feed is first dried and then fractionated to remove the small amounts of C-. and C products. The C stream is then selectively hydrogenated to remove acetylene... 

Methyl-5-hepten-2-one is converted into linalool in excellent yield by base-catalyzed ethynylation with acetylene to dehydrolinalool [45]. This is followed by selective hydrogenation of the triple bond to a double bond in the presence of a palladium carbon catalyst. 

One important application of selective hydrogenation of alkynes is their removal from the industrial steam cracker products. These can contain several percents of alkynes as byproducts. They are particularly unwelcome in that they poison the catalysts used for the downstream polymerization of the olefins. Selective hydrogenation of these steam cracker cuts has two advantages. It removes acetylenes and converts them to desired alkenes, thereby increasing the overall yields (see Section 11.6.1). 

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